Nate Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Nathaniel Branden's essay "the psychology of pleasure" (in VoS) states ... "Productive work is the most fundamental of these (areas the allow man to experience enjoyment of life): through his work, man gains his basic sense of control over existence-his sense of efficacy-which is the necessary foundation of his ability to enjoy any other value. The man whose life lacks direction or purpose , the man who has no creative goal, necessarily feels helpless and out of control. feels inadequate and unfit for existence; the man who feels unfit for existence is incapable of enjoying it." What is meant by "productive work"? Creative goal / productive work seem to be equivalent here. What is being created or produced? What is an appropriate direction or purpose for one's life? The words following this phrase immediately above seem to indicate that a creative goal is man's purpose or direction, and that this somehow leads to his happiness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMeganSnow Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 All productive work is creative; if you make a sandwich, you have created a sandwich. A lot of people take the word "creative" or the phrase "productive work" to mean a very narrow range of options: scientific research, technological inventions, or art. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you keep your mind active, observing and analyzing what you're doing and why. If you learn how to type a little faster or sling barrels a little better or analyze grammar a little more accurately, you have engaged in creativity. Even apparently mindless, repetitive jobs can be creative, the idea is how you approach them. If you just do what you're told to do without ever thinking about the whys and wherefores and trying to connect up the dots . . . if you memorize the buttons you're supposed to push instead of grasping the overall functioning of a computer program, you're not being creative. Your job will become drudgery, you will live for the weekends and evenings, you will become bitter, resentful, and opposed to change that requires you to memorize a new set of buttons. A creative person embraces change; once they've learned how to do a job, they get bored with it and start craving a new challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted August 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 (edited) A lot of people take the word "creative" or the phrase "productive work" to mean a very narrow range of options: scientific research, technological inventions, or art. Originally, I was going to compare these two options of definitions, but I thought that would be loading my question. When I stated "What is an appropriate direction or purpose for one's life? The words following this phrase immediately above seem to indicate that a creative goal is man's purpose or direction, and that this somehow leads to his happiness." My thoughts were bascially similar to what you said ... if you make a sandwich, you have created a sandwich I wanted to make sure I wasn't reading this excerpt from Branden too broadly. Also, anyone reading this shouldn't think "okay, that question has been answered and closed" as seems to happen often whenever anyone gives a response such as the one I've given. I'd still like to hear other thoughts and the reasoning behind them. This just leads me back to the question I asked in the "coping with an ultimate goal" thread... What is a rational value? Edit: Maybe "what is a rational justification/reasoning for a value?" is closer to what I mean to ask. /Edit Again, I will refrain from expanding on this with my own thoughts for now to avoid loading my own question. Edited August 8, 2006 by Nate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ifat Glassman Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Nathaniel Branden's essay "the psychology of pleasure" (in VoS) states ... "Productive work is the most fundamental of these (areas the allow man to experience enjoyment of life): through his work, man gains his basic sense of control over existence-his sense of efficacy-which is the necessary foundation of his ability to enjoy any other value. The man whose life lacks direction or purpose , the man who has no creative goal, necessarily feels helpless and out of control. feels inadequate and unfit for existence; the man who feels unfit for existence is incapable of enjoying it." What is an appropriate direction or purpose for one's life? The words following this phrase immediately above seem to indicate that a creative goal is man's purpose or direction, and that this somehow leads to his happiness. Various things can give you happiness, but in order to experience it you first have to feel secure about your existence (or ability to survive). This certainty, that you can wake up tomorrow knowing that you have a place to sleep when you get back, is required for enjoying any other recreational activity. You cannot enjoy a sports game knowing that after that game is over you have nothing to eat or no place to sleep. (Right?) The way to ensure your survival is through work. Work that would be your source of income for the long run, and not for a day or two. What Nathaniel Branden is saying is that every man realizes this fact: that without work (long term job) there can be no certainty of one's survival. This creates a psychological need (on top of the actual need) to engage in creative work and to be efficient. Without working efficiently toward that purpose that you have chosen to serve your survival, you would not be able to be relaxed enough to enjoy other things (like a sports game, a walk in a beautiful place, conversation with friends etc'). As for the job and direction in life that one should choose: (I am not interpreting the article now, but speaking for myself): You should choose something that interests you, that brings you pleasure, that you are good at, that serves your physical well-being and sits well with other values you want to achieve in life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSalar Posted September 12, 2006 Report Share Posted September 12, 2006 Two quotes from The Virtue of Selfishness (p.27) – Note emphasis (mine): “Productive work is the central purpose of a rational man's life, the central value that integrates and determines the hierarchy of all his other values.” “The virtue of Productiveness is the recognition of the fact that productive work is the process by which man's mind sustains his life, the process that sets man free of the necessity to adjust himself to his background, as all animals do, and gives him the power to adjust his background to him-serf. Productive work is the road of man's unlimited achievement and calls upon the highest attributes of his character: his creative ability, his ambitiousness, his self-assertiveness, his refusal to bear uncontested disasters, his dedication to the goal of reshaping the earth in the image of his values. "Productive work" does not mean the unfocused performance of the motions of some job. It means the consciously chosen pursuit of a productive career, in any line of rational endeavor, great or modest, on any level of ability. It is not the degree of a man's ability nor the scale of his work that is ethically relevant here, but the fullest and most purposeful use of his mind.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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